B RINGIN G B RITAIN TO YOU
TRAVEL SPECIAL
Romantic Lakes
Landscapes that inspired William Wordsworth & Beatrix Potter
WIN a cosy
Cumbrian Escape
Agatha Christie
Mistletoe traditions
Corsets & scandals
PUCKER UP LIKE THE VICTORIANS
Discover her beloved Oxfordshire hometown
INSIDE THE REAL BRIDGERTON HOUSE
London Christmas shopping DEC 2023/JAN 2024 £4.95
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The
LOVELIEST SPOTS
© MAURIZIO RELLINI/4CORNERS
Tina Walsh takes an idyllic tour through the land of lakes and fens that so enamoured William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter
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DISCOVER CUMBRIA – THE TOUR
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House of
CARDS Sally Coffey reveals some of the secrets of Cumbria’s largest Elizabethan house, from a gamble gone wrong to links to one of Britain’s most celebrated heroes
This image: The Blue Drawing Room at Powis Castle, Powys
THE LAKE DISTRICT DISCOVER CUMBRIA––CLASSIC CLASSICSTAYS STAYS
Rooms with views The Lake District – Classic stays
Henrietta Easton advises you extend your visit to the Lake District with a stay in one of these lovely hotels with impressive vistas
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THE LAKE DISTRICT – CLASSIC STAYS
Merewood Country House Hotel & Restaurant, Windermere Dating back to 1812, this elegant country house hotel on Lake Windermere is brimming with historic charm, and retains many of its original features, including the panelled hall and reception. With 20 bedrooms, guests can choose from four tiers of sumptuous accommodation: ultimate lake view, lake view, four-poster lake view, or classic rooms – each one stylishly designed with relaxation in mind. Merewood has two on-site restaurants, both of which produce food using ingredients sourced from the hotel’s own land, or hand-picked from local suppliers. The awardwinning Arboreal serves up a seven-course taster menu featuring modern, elegant dishes that’ll delight fine-dining fans, while The Grill offers a more relaxed setting for comforting British classics such as, (of course), Cumberland sausage and mash. Afternoon tea at Merewood is a charming affair, too, and there’s even a special afternoon tea for dogs, where furry friends can enjoy ➤ their own treats alongside yours. lakedistrictcountryhotels.co.uk/merewood-hotel
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HERITAGE
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HERITAGE
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COLUMN
Cotswolds Diary Preparations for Christmas on a Cotswolds farm is a time for rituals, as Caroline Mills explains
F
or us, preparations for Christmas do not start until December: no present buying, no writing of cards, nothing until we’re in the ‘right’ month. It begins with the making of a traditional Christmas pudding. Everyone, however young or old, gets involved with weighing, measuring, and stirring before it’s steamed in a pudding bowl. Sultanas, raisins, currants, cut peel and all the scent of Christmas – oranges, lemons, brandy, cloves, and spices – are mixed, along with two not-so-Christmassy ingredients: grated carrot and apple. My recollections of homemade Christmas pudding as a child are of an overly dry, solid black lump that needed to be drowned in a sea of custard simply to be palatable. And so, I embellished a recipe that, courtesy of the carrot and apple (and maybe an extra splash of brandy) remains deliciously moist after long, slow cooking. It’s become one of those classic family recipes that are jotted down on a faded piece of paper that is sticky with the stains of past ingredients, before being tucked into a well-worn recipe book. Busy with farm work, most of our Christmas rituals don’t begin until
a couple of days before Christmas Day. We’ll head to a friend I’ve known since primary school who owns a farm a couple of miles away, where we’ll select and cut a fresh Christmas tree. He doesn’t routinely sell the trees, so we’ll exchange some farm produce in return, and put the world to rights stood in the farmyard for one last time in the year. The tree gets decorated in our hall on Christmas Eve, with everyone giving a helping hand. A very plump, glossy red wooden Father Christmas gets pride of place atop the tree. And then there’s one of my favourite rituals of all. My husband and the children head off shopping for last-minute stocking fillers. I, meanwhile, wander around the farm gathering foliage from the hedgerows and in the wood: holly, different varieties of ivy, scented pine branches, ruby-red
The ritualistic quiet, solitary walk around the farm gathering foliage is, arguably, my Christmas highlight 60 discoverbritainmag.com
rosehips, and anything else that looks lusciously green. In the peace of an empty house, I create a garland hung with fairy lights to sit along our living room fireplace, made from Cotswold stone and a beam cut from an old oak tree on the farm. With the trimmings, a hanging basket is created for the kitchen, to which miniature baubles are added, and finally I make a fresh centrepiece with candles for the dining table. By late afternoon on Christmas Eve, once everyone has returned, we make a ‘snowy’ chocolate yule log with chestnut cream. Supper that evening is simple; almost always homemade vegetable soup with a crusty brown loaf followed by yule log. That ritualistic quiet, solitary walk around the farm gathering foliage is, arguably, my Christmas highlight. Relishing the smell of cold and damp branches, maybe having stood upon and crushed ground ivy in the undergrowth, releasing the herbal scent from its leaves as I reach with my secateurs into a hedgerow; perhaps noticing a spider’s web laced with droplets of dew or appreciating the company of a particularly chatty robin. A very simple pleasure to enjoy before a day that, agreeably, assaults the senses. For all the childhood expectation of Christmas Day, Christmas Eve and its gentle preparations is my favourite day among the festivities. ■ Caroline Mills is a travel writer – and farmer – living and working in the Cotswolds. She is the author of Slow Travel: The Cotswolds